SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MULTITENANCY DATA

• US 20130086322A1
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Clarke, Douglas, Pelletier, Guy
• Granted Patent: US 9,542,432 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/119
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to support multitenant data in an EclipseLink environment. EclipseLink supports shared multitenant tables using tenant discriminator columns, allowing an application to be re-used for multiple tenants and have all their data co-located. Tenants can share the same schema transparently, without affecting one another and can use non-multitenant entity types as per usual. This functionality is flexible enough to allow for its usage at an Entity Manager Factory level or with individual Entity Manager'"'"'s based on the application'"'"'s needs. Support for multitenant entities can be done though the usage of a multitenant annotation or <multitenant> xml element configured in an eclipselink-orm.xml mapping file. The multitenant annotation can be used on an entity or mapped superclass and is used in conjunction with a tenant discriminator column or <tenant-discriminator-column> xml element.

Claims

1. A multitenant system, comprising:

a computer, including a computer readable medium and processor;

an application, executing on the computer, wherein the application includes one or more entities configured to be used by a plurality of tenants;

a data source which includes one or more tables each associated with one of the one or more entities; and

wherein for each entity, data for each of the plurality of tenants is stored in the same table and a tenant discriminator column is used to determine which data is associated with which tenant.

2. The multitenant system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of persistence units, each associated with a different tenant, configured to prevent entities from different tenants to be stored in the same cache.

3. The multitenant system of claim 1, further comprising a persistence context, associated with a single persistence unit, wherein the persistence context is shared among the plurality of tenants.

4. The multitenant system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of persistence contexts, each associated with a different tenant, wherein the plurality of persistence contexts are provided by a single persistence unit.

5. The multitenant system of claim 1 wherein each table can include one or more tenant discrimination columns, defined by its associated entity.

6. The multitenant system of claim 1 wherein each entity specifies whether it supports multitenancy using a multitenant annotation.

7. A method of storing multitenant data in a multitenant system, comprising:

providing an application, executing on a computer, including a computer readable medium and processor, wherein the application includes one or more entities configured to be used by a plurality of tenants;

storing a plurality of tables in a data source, wherein each of the plurality of tables is associated with one of the one or more entities;

storing data for each of the plurality of tenants, for a particular entity, in a table associated with the particular entity; and

determining which data is associated which tenant in the table using a tenant discriminator column.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising associating each of a plurality of persistence units with a different tenant, configured to prevent entities from different tenants to be stored in the same cache.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising sharing a persistence context among the plurality of tenants, wherein the persistence context is associated with a single persistence unit.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising associating each of a plurality of persistence contexts with a different tenant, wherein the plurality of persistence contexts are provided by a single persistence unit.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein each table can include one or more tenant discrimination columns, defined by its associated entity.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein each entity specifies whether it supports multitenancy using a multitenant annotation.

13. A nontransitory computer readable storage medium including instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of:

providing an application, executing on a computer, including a computer readable medium and processor, wherein the application includes one or more entities configured to be used by a plurality of tenants;

storing a plurality of tables in a data source, wherein each of the plurality of tables is associated with one of the one or more entities;

storing data for each of the plurality of tenants, for a particular entity, in a table associated with the particular entity; and

determining which data is associated which tenant in the table using a tenant discriminator column.

14. The nontransitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 further comprising associating each of a plurality of persistence units with a different tenant, configured to prevent entities from different tenants to be stored in the same cache.

15. The nontransitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising sharing a persistence context among the plurality of tenants, wherein the persistence context is associated with a single persistence unit.

16. The nontransitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising associating each of a plurality of persistence contexts with a different tenant, wherein the plurality of persistence contexts are provided by a single persistence unit.

17. The nontransitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein each table can include one or more tenant discrimination columns, defined by its associated entity.

18. The nontransitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein each entity specifies whether it supports multitenancy using a multitenant annotation.